Various methods are known for making electrical contact between circuit elements. The goal is to have a reliable electrical connection between contacts or connectors to a printed circuit boards or power distribution bus bars and transfer large amount of current with no restriction. For example, some prior art devices utilize solderless electrical contacts within a mounting board. These devices rely on the principle of deforming the hole as the contact is inserted therein for generating the retention force. This prior art solderless contact cannot be removed and reinstalled in the mounting board due to the deformation of the hole during the initial installation. Such connections also have a tendency to become less efficient over a prolonged period of time due to loss of both mechanical holding power and electrical continuity. The loss of mechanical holding power is caused by the initial deformation of the mounting board which tends to continue long after the mounting of the contact, thus allowing the contact to loosened within the hole. The loss of electrical continuity is caused when ambient atmosphere circulates between the contact and the hole opening allowing the development of corrosion therebetween.
Compliant tails are an improved form of solderless electrical connection. They require tight tolerance holes on the board which increases its cost and reusability of the component. The advantage of using compliant tails is to easily integrate electrical components without permanently soldering to the board. However, compliant pins are sometimes unable to retain their shape to produce the retention force needed to maintain the electrical continuity.
Solder is another form of electrical connection. However, the issue with soldering components to the printed circuit board (PCB) is the high temperature requirement which can warp and damage the board. In addition, the process of soldering components does not take into consideration the possible future failures that can occur. Replacing damaged electrical components could cause an increase in cost for rework and introduce the risk of scraping entire boards.
Nearly every prior art design has small cross sectional pins to carry electricity between the contact and the board or bus bar. This restricts the amount of current which can pass through these pins. Even though the main mating contacts are able to accommodate a large amount of current, the narrow cross section of the pins do not provide enough copper mass to effectively pass current. As such, large power application become problematic.